Congratulations Lynsey! I am so happy for you! Yay! Moon power! kiss that little sweetie for all of us.... that's alot of kisses!

Lazuli i am sorry to hear you are struggling, i know the feeling. At least my Jerome is around alot. He works about 5 hours a day during the week. He tucks me and Mielle in and then cleans the kitchen. Little by little I am able to get more done during the day, but I have to leave Mielle in the bouncy seat to get any thing done. I feel so stiff and akward wearing her in the wrap. She fusses alot in the sling.

I managed to make abig batch of chili today... in the crock pot! Smells so good in here!

Love to all

Anna Banana ~5 year old daughter ~3 year old son one angel baby and expecting July 2010

My in laws are begging for more photos, need to feed the obession! Maybe they will refrain from calling for a day or two! Seriously, it seems like they always call while we are in the middle of cooking dinner, changing a diaper and Mielle is screaming her head off in on of those "blue poodle fits". And then Jerome feels he must talk to them for at least 20 minutes as they as ask for all the details about my breast pain, rash etc. It drives me crazy! I know they love us and adore their grandaughter, but JEEZ, can't you take a hint!

Gotta go eat some dinner
kisses

Anna Banana ~5 year old daughter ~3 year old son one angel baby and expecting July 2010

I'm all nervous at the moment. I just realized Dave is going back to work TOMORROW for the first time since....EASTER!

I am sort of freaking out at the idea of being alone with everyone while still trying to figure out all these nursing/pumping issues.

I'm still only getting 1 or 2 ounces (2 is usually only at my early morning pump session) per pumping and Anna is eating 3 oz. every feeding. So, I'm only managing to give her breastmilk as 1/3 of her daily diet at the moment.

I'll get together a list of things I have to give away sometime in the next day or two. I need to get the laundry washed and put away tomorrow so I know what's ready to be passed on to someone else.

Lemme see...

I used infant prefolds to stuff my fuzzibunz with Nathaniel. I don't use pockets this time. I'm in love with my Nanipoo newborn fitteds and the "faux" kissaluvs size 0 diapers that a dear friend made for Anna. The nanipoo diapers are the only things we own that actually FIT Anna. They fit so perfectly at 6 pounds but have plenty of growing room so I'm pretty sure she'll be able to wear them till 12 or 15 pounds.

Anna doesn't have any clothes that fit her. She loses her arms in the size 0-3 and newborn sleepers and goes into meltdown. We are expected to attend DH's brother's wedding next weekend and I have no idea what she'll wear.

JenInMpls - sort of off topic, I know they say that all babies "look alike" but your son looks just like my daughter to me! I even had my DH look and see if it was just me or if the resemblance was really there!
Kinda strange!

jen - my mom says all babies look like winston churchill. how anyone can say that about our beauties I'll never know

my adorable son has been gassy and pissy all night. A couple of doses of colic remedy and a squirt of baby simethicone seem to be helping the air out of him. he's struggling to keep his eyes open now even as he nurses as if it's going out of style. So am I, actually, I'm hoping all of the yelling neans that he is good and tired, esp considering he missed his morning nap. I suppose, though, he'll be up good and late and we'll be too bleary-eyed to talk at the dr appt tomorrow.

so all this talk about nighttime diapering troubles got me all in a tizzy and i just ordered 2 small fuzzibunz. what do you all use to stuff them?

toh and haven't looked for other responses yet...

I have one MOE (FuzziBunz) Microterry insert per diaper (though I had some extras before I bought more dipes!). I'll use one of those and either a second of those or one of the inserts I got in an Insert Sampler pack from http://www.clothdiapersnmore.com/ - this includes some PFs, JoeyBunz, Duz it all, another flat hemp I can't remember the name of... I find the PFs to be the least absorbant and the hemp maybe a bit more absorbant than the microterry. Anyway, I really like having the sampler so I have lots to try! There may be some cheaper options, but these work well for us.

I'm ridiculously behind on reading posts -- let's not even talk about responding to them.

Thursday morning, September 23, I woke around 8am with a crampiness that was "new," even after spending the night on the pot (TMI...it was so bad, I had to take a bath for my poor tushy!).

I ran a bath, and as soon as I lowered myself into the tub, my water broke! There were little bits of vernix floating everywhere, but otherwise, it was clear. Called my midwife to let her know (she was suprised, since her bets were on my going 41 weeks), and said we'd touch base periodically over the day.

In the photos, you'll see pictures of me outside...my final "pregnant" shots, since I'd neglected to take any pictures since 30 weeks. Look over my shoulder...as I walked toward the edge of my complex (to overlook a mountain view), a doe was waiting there for me!

My mw had a 1:30 appointment, and I told her no problem for her to hit it...then she'd come to my house by around 3pm. Around 2:30-2:45, the crampiness that I'd THOUGHT were contractions suddenly changed, and I found myself hanging on furniture through what I'd assumed was transition. MW arrived a bit after 3, just for me to learn that while I was 100% effaced, I'd only dilated to 3cm. With my permission, she "stretched" me to 4cm (really, that was easy).

Contractions continued, and we (okay, I didn't do anything other than say "that's too hot!") filled up the fishy pool at the foot of my bed. Ah, relief. Sort of. From there, I travelled into that neverworld zone known as laborland. I vaguely remember standing in the doorway to the kitchen, hearing MW tell my cousin and S/O that she was going to run out for a salad, and would be right back. I'm not sure if I said anything or not, but I started to feel PANIC. No! Don't leave me!

Another check soon after that showed that NOW, I was at 7cm, and hitting transition -- only 2 hours after checking at 3cm! This baby wasn't taking her time. Within an hour after that, I'd begun feeling *very* pushy, and back in the water, didn't let my mw get near enough to me to check to make sure I was really dilated fully. The idea of being touched sounded like torture. At some point, I finally felt inside myself, and told them, "I feel a head." With that, my mw did check me (she was in disbelief -- first time moms aren't supposed to work that fast!), and verified, yes...I really was pushing.

Maya Leigh was born at 5:58pm, after only 3 hours (but VERY intense hours) of "active" labor. She's beautiful, and of course, I'm in love. At 6 pounds, 4 ounces (39 weeks 6 days), and 19-1/2 inches, she's a petite dollbaby.

The past six days have been a huge adjustment, and each day brings changes. As soon as I get used to one "routine," the next day is completely different!

I'll post a couple photos in the yahoo group, assuming it ever lets me do more than create an empty album... :

Anna and Savannah, thanks for sharing the great pics! Anna, I love those first pics of you and Mielle sleeping. SO sweet!! And Savannah, all the pics of the twins sleeping together and also the tandem nursing are wonderful! The sleeping after nursing is a classic!

Leigh, have you tried preemie clothes? I know places like Gymboree and Children's Place carry preemie sizes that fit those "small" babes. You may even be able to look online to find some from those places. Even Iain, who was 7lbs2oz at birth, didn't fit well in 0-3 month sizes! We're slowly working into them. Hope you find something sweet for her to wear!

CONGRATS TO YOU TOO, Allison!! and : to Maya Leigh!! Hooray for a nice quick labor.

I love the pictures of Iain, and of Mielle! I wish my dh would take some nice pics of me with the babies... my sister is planning to take some family ones Sunday; maybe I can get her to do a couple of mom and baby ones then. But Anna, I just love the pictures of you and Jerome snuggling Mielle in bed. She looks so cute with her naked fat belly; I'm afraid to let my kiddos go topless, afraid they'll get too cold. McKenna especially seems to shiver horrendously when I'm changing her outfits each day... <shrug>

Well, off to sneak a nap before the babies need to eat again. Thanks Chrissy for your picture compliments. Today was only the third or fourth time I've attempted tandem nursing, and it went well.

OH! The babies went for their 5 week checkup today. William went from 6-3 at birth to now 9 pounds! No wonder he was feeling so heavy... McKenna has all of her feeding and weight gain issues "resolved" says the doctor, and went from 5-12 to now 7-12, woo hoo! She still clamps off her milk flow at the end of a session, and falls asleep too early, so I see why she's lagging behind her piggy brother. But I feel so justified and pleased! I scoff at all my naysayers!!!

P.S. I'm just now starting my quest for the perfect stuffing for pocket dipes. I just bought 30 dipes! So far I've stuffed them with prefolds, birdseye flats, microterry, hemp inserts, and terry/microfleece inserts. The prefolds are huge but quite absorbent. I need huge now, though, since the little thighs are still not quite big enough to keep in the pee with the slimmer inserts like the hemp ones. the microterry works better than I expected, and the birdseye flats aren't nearly absorbent enough, unless you use 2. Then they're perfect.

In fact, I'll probably be posting a "ISO" thread on the Trading Post soon looking for lots of inserts for sale, cheap. With our fitted diapers, the person who sold them to me did this and I'm just doing what she did: She trifolded regular terry washcloths and laid them in the diaper, then topped that with a piece of microfleece for softness/dryness. My babies still manage to soak through all those and the diaper itself in no time flat, so I do love my good quality covers! (PUL and Bummis SWW).

I'm feeling better today, thanks for the encouragement! My friend is coming out today to entertain Kallisti so I can get some stuff done. We went to the doctor yesterday for her 2 week checkup and she's back up to 9 lbs! (She gained almost a lb in a week, yikes!) When we got home we took a 2 1/2 hour nap. Yay!

I'm behind, I need to look at all these pictures, and I need to finish writing up my birth story and get it posted. Maybe today. I'm going to go grab a cup of coffee now.

Allison, who took all those terrific labor/birth pictures for you?? What a nice thing to do. You look terrific, and what a nice waterbirth. Maya is too precious! You can see why she stayed so long inside you... Look how mad she was to be out! haha. And you sure had a pretty preggy belly!

Lynsey, I just love all the pictures you've taken this pregnancy with the older kids and your belly! What a nice chubby cutie your new daughter is. Did you knit/crochet that pretty, soft matching blanket and hat set? It's great!

Chrissy, I went on the TP and found different deals on pocket dipes:
1) 1 small Happy Heiny cow print for $4 and 1 medium Lilybottoms cow print (well worn) "free for shipping", $2.
2) One gal sewed her own pockets using HH as her guide, and was selling some smalls because she didn't like the way the seam bunched up on the front. So I got 10 gorgeous, perfect, new pocket dipes similar to HH for $3 each!! Two even have an embroidered design on the back!
3) 2 small and 1 medium Ella's pocket dipes, including inserts, and a medium cover tossed in, for $6 each.
4) 2 small Starbunz "white bear" dipes for half price, $8 each.
5) and 7 newborn Little Lamb AIOs (which haven't arrived yet) for $6 each. I've also found a gal on the TP who likes to trade for Enfamil Lipil formula checks, and I received one, so I'm hoping to trade for one more cute medium pocket diaper she had for sale, plus a cover....

I seem to have a fussy gassy baby, too.
Not colicky, just fussy at certain times of the day (usually between 8pm and 11pm). The simethicone drops seem to help sometimes.

Well, I go back to work tomorrow night!
I'm actually looking forward to it; is that crazy?
My DH is nervous; he has a hard time with newborns, and gets easily frustrated with the fussiness.
But, my mom is here, so he probably won't have to do much with Finn anyways.
Finn is getting baptized on Sunday (we're Catholic), so I'm looking forward to that!
I'll take pics of him in his little outfit for ya.

So, our friend Sara brought over little filled puff pastries last night for dinner - really good, chicken, carrots, broccoli, green beans, etc in a parmesan sauce. YUM. I had to eat it one-handed while nursing, but they cut mine up for me and served it to me, how nice! Well, I didn't notice that there was asparagus in it. Must have been quite a bit, too.

Now, I don't know how many of you are familiar with the phenomenon of asparagus pee... asparagus is one of those foods that excretes itself in all of your body fluids, along with the other major ones of garlic and curry. Well, I woke up this morning finding that i had *leaked* (THREE CHEERS!) a little on the sheet where T was trying to latch on (I was even a bit ENGORGED, three cheers again!) and I could not figure out what the odd smell was. Would you like to take a guess?

Asparagus-flavored breastmilk! Yum yum!!

Luckily, T does not seem to care one little bit. Doc says that he'll probably like asparagus when he's older if he doesn't mind it in his milk now.

He is happily napping right now with mummy (as opposed to mama - that's me) downstairs. I got to actually do some housework which cheered me up - cleaning off the kitchen counter and putting clean dishes away - and our dr appt this morning was good, she is encouraged that he has had 2 messy diapers in as many days and that he's peeing more. He was technically down an ounce but she said considering the two poops he's probably actually up in weight. Yay!

Welcome to Maya! Congrats on your labor, it sounds like it was wonderful.

Blessings on your baptism Finn! Danielle, those are almost exactly Tristan's times to be a fussbudget, too.

Best to all, I'm going downstairs to keep being productive while Jo and Tristan keep hanging out together -

xo, j.

ps: Savannah - no word yet from my friend in Germany as regards the translations...

We had to skip the homebirth and have him in the hospital. The main concerns were that labor started (just early labor) on Tues morning and then stopped and that he was completely engaged and then not. With worries of a short cord or something worse we headed to the hospital for the dreaded pit drip. He was absolutely fine and the delay in labor was attributed the water bag slipping down. So he was just happily bouncing around while we worried! We couldn't be happier that he is fine and doing well.

How wonderful that 2 more babies are here! Congratulations Mamas!!! : :

Caroline, we "got together" for the first time when Arowen was 9 or 10 days old. It didn't hurt and it was nice to fit together closely again instead of working around a big belly.

Arowen weighed 8 pounds 6 oz. at the mw on Monday, she was 25 days old then. (She was 6 pounds 14 1/2 oz. at birth, so she's doing really well.) She's got big chubby cheeks which are a bit rashy at the moment-heat rash I think. For those who suggested cutting out citrus for helping with the diaper rash, that was a big help. Thank you. I'm also doing EC with her so she isn't sitting in poopy diapers much. She used to do it silently, so I wouldn't know. I was changing her constantly, but those poops were so acidic I guess. She's the 3rd I've done some EC with and we fell into it very easily.
Kids are here demanding my time and apparently there is a mess in the kitchen that I didn't make, so...

I made a goof. : Unfortunately, it was on the TP on a FS thread - it was the second time I'd posted the items and forgot to write "each." I had no idea until I got payment for the items at half of what I expected.

This is only the second TP transaction I've been involved in, so I'm not sure what's best to do. Do I go forward with it and lose half of what I needed to get for these? Do I send the money back and tell her what happened? Do I offer a deal somewhere between the two?

I have my home visit with my mw today and am going to try to get some times and other details from her before I write the birth story. I could just watch the video, but dont feel up to that. Pushing is always very hard on me and I dont want to relive it this soon!

David is 3 weeks old today and right now he is smiling in his sleep. I bet he is dreaming about "momma milk". We went to our first baby playdate today and he spend the whole time snoozing. Maybe he will be awake at the next playdate.

BTW if anyone has some small diapers they want to part with, I could definitely use them. Poor David has a small stash and I am doing laundry every other day to keep him in cloth.

I had a very bad experience with my OB with a miscarriage last fall, and couldn’t change docs due to insurance issues, so I decided to try UC. I went to my OB initially to confirm pg and authorize my insurance for coverage in the event of an emergency transfer. I had the initial blood work, and a u/s at 24 weeks, and then I just stopped going to my appointments without formally notifying them. I had met Sue, the CNMW at my initial visit. My dh was on board with the UC idea. We were ready, and I always told my family (who was very worried) that I was not going to stay home just for the sake of staying home, and I assured them and dh that I would go to a hospital if I felt anything was wrong. I would not risk my life, or the baby’s.

I had very strong BH the last 4 weeks and lost part of my plug 2 weeks before the birth. I know I was about 3-4cm dilated the last month, (I remember how it felt after my m/c and I had a two inch red stripe on my rear, supposedly an indicator). I had no internal exams, since no one had seen me since 24 weeks. I was awakened suddenly at 3:45 am Sunday Sept. 19th with a very strong contraction that was NOT a BH. I instinctively ran for the toilet, and my water broke with a SPLAT all over the tile and half in the toilet. It was clear with flecks of vernix. I was 40w 4 days. I called for dh, and he started setting up towels and tarps on the floor from the bedroom to the bath, and started to fill the pool. My next contraction came ten minutes later, very strong. They were about ten minutes apart the first hour, and I walked a lot. Then things suddenly picked up in intensity and speed. I was about 5 minutes apart, then three minutes. I was singing through the contractions, “Ohhhhh OOOOOOO Ohhhhhh” but they were coming so fast and hard it was like I couldn’t catch up. I labored standing, leaning on my hands over the kitchen table for a bit, then on my knees with my upper body over the side of the bed. Then I tried to get in the pool, but it was cold! We have a rental, so maybe the water heater was auto-set to shut down at night or something. I tried to get in the tub after the hot water came back a little but I couldn’t fit in any kind of comfortable position. I went to the toilet and stayed there.

Suddenly, it was just like one LONG contraction – just never ending. I couldn’t get any rest. They were so powerful and intense. I could not be left alone for a second. I just held my dh’s hand as he stood in front of me, as I roared and screamed. But it went on and on and on - for about two hours. I began to pray aloud over and over, “Jesus, have mercy on me... Jesus, have mercy on me.” I was totally incoherent. I began saying. “I can’t do this, I can’t do this, I can’t have this baby!” My dh just kept saying, “You’re doing great honey.” I had this totally irrational, yet very real desire, to be instantly placed unconscious and have the baby CUT out of me. I did not care. I would have gladly had a c-section at that moment. The pain was so intense. Then I said, “I’m going to be sick,” and dh ran for a bowl. I threw up hard twice into it. And then suddenly everything STOPPED. It was like flipping off a light switch. I became instantly clear headed, and coherent, the pain was gone, and no contractions. I sat there for a while then started to wonder if this was normal, and told dh to go get me a pg book. I was in the resting phase! So, we sat there and waited. I think I dozed off for a moment. The contraction came about a half hour later, but was so powerful again, and very quickly picked up speed. But something was different than before. I was having what I knew must be back labor. That pain on top of the regular labor pains was absolutely excruciating, and unbearable. The only word I can think of is electrocution. It felt like a 12” strip on either side of my spine in my lower back had a lightning rod attached to it, and I was being electrocuted every two minutes. Then my body began involuntarily pushing SO HARD. At least three pushes on every contraction, which were now 60-90 seconds apart. But I knew something was wrong. I looked down with a mirror, and everything was quadrupled in size with swelling, and I knew that was wrong. I put my finger inside, but couldn’t feel up far enough to feel anything but swelling, no cervix, no head. I couldn’t feel the baby in my canal. It felt like my body was pushing against a closed door. I knew this was very bad and every alarm bell in my body was going off, saying I needed help. I told dh, “Something’s wrong. We have to go – we have to go NOW – call 911!”

The ambulance was pulling into the driveway literally 60 seconds after he made the call, (there’s a fire station 200 yards from our house) and suddenly there were 4 medics in my bathroom and me sitting on the toilet in my bloody night gown in AGONY! They gave me oxygen, and realized I was already pushing and they all yelled, “DON’T PUSH DON’T PUSH!” and I said, “Stop yelling at me!” They couldn’t get me down the stairs on a stretcher so they tried this chair device which didn’t work because it was too painful, so this medic carried all 170 pounds of me in his arms down the stairs, and he was very patient to wait the seconds between ctxs/pushes to do it.

At the hospital, a nurse checked me and said I was 7.5 cm, but my body wouldn’t stop pushing. My OB’s CNMW, Sue, arrived 30 minutes later - she was not pleased when she realized they hadn’t seen me since 24 weeks. She checked me and I was 9 cm with unbelievable swelling in my vulva and perineum, and a very swollen lip of cervix. Meanwhile, I was still dying from the back labor. I asked what my options were for pain, because I knew I wouldn’t be able to push this baby out with that electrical feeling. I got an epidural. I tell you what, that epidural was my best friend at that moment. It killed the back labor, but not the feeling of contractions, just dulled them a bit. Sue said she didn’t think it would be possible for the massive swelling to go down. Sue said she would let me rest for 30 minutes then we would have to discuss “options.” I knew that meant “c-section.” Just then, our priest arrived and gave me a blessing. When Sue came back, ALL the swelling was gone and she said it was a miracle – I think the blessing did it. I was complete and could start pushing. However, my epidural had been turned up, and now I felt NOTHING. After two hours of feeling ALL pushing, I was like, “Push WHAT?” so they turned off the epidural. They had me on my back, in the C position holding my legs up and I tried to THINK “push!”

I ended up pushing for three hours – mostly on my back, sometimes on my side. He wouldn’t come down. The whole time Sue kept saying, “Wow, the baby looks great, he’s tolerating this really well!” On the monitor his heart rate was always 135, 140, 125, etc. It took forever for me to crown, he was at the entrance of my vagina and wouldn’t budge. I was totally feeling again, and I had an instinct to turn on all fours, but Sue wouldn’t let me. Finally, he crowned and in the mirror they had set up I saw Sue reach up with scissors in her hand, and I screamed at the top of my lungs, “No!!! Sue, PLEASE don’t cut me!!!” And she yelled, “Then you better get this baby out on the next push!” And I said, “He’s coming NOW!!!” And I pushed with all my might through all the pain. He came out to his ears, and on the next contraction seconds later, Sue grabbed his head with her right hand and pulled, and pressed down on my belly with her left hand, and he came flying out all at once. It was so violent, that move that she did.

Sue yelled, “I’ve got MEC!” and immediately cut the cord and Alex was totally limp like a rag doll. It was the most terrifying sight. She yelled for NICU, and took him to the other table and started rubbing his chest and waving oxygen under his nose. My dh held my hand and we prayed the Hail Mary over and over while they tried to get him to breathe. Five minutes later, the NICU team arrived and continued working on him, and he started to pink up. His Apgars were 1/1/7. They took him away to NICU, and my husband broke down sobbing at my bedside.

I tore a little – a first degree labial tear, and a small vaginal tear, and got about 3-4 sutures. We went to NICU an hour later, and I got to hold my son. He had an IV in his head where they were giving him some fluids, but he was breathing room air. They kept him there for two days. I felt like I had been hit by a truck. I shook violently on and off for two days. The neonatologist wouldn’t let me put him to my breast, even though my milk had not come in, and they said he couldn’t eat anything for 48 hours. This made my lactation consultant very angry, since she knew it would help baby and me. She said docs make her job very difficult. Meanwhile, I had been chastised privately by my midwife and the resident neonatologist for what I had done – i.e. trying to have him at home alone. All the guilt was laid squarely at my feet. My LC asked if it was true what I had done. I really had a good sense of her, so I told her my story. Turns out she is an advocate of homebirth, and she was the only one who applauded me for trying, even though it didn’t work out. She said, “Good grief, you didn’t have a homebirth – you had a home labor!”

NICU sent him to the next nursery down, not the general one, for another four days, before he was released. My milk came in on day three, so he only got 1 day of formula, and then I put him to the breast on day five. He nursed like a champ! I refused silver nitrate eye ointment in Alex’s eyes at birth, and refused vaccinations (had to say that one more than once) and circumcision. He was kept there about two days too long, and we think they were being overly cautious as there was literally nothing wrong with our son. Every check or test was negative, and he was 100% healthy. Overall, though, all the nurses were wonderful and gave us great care.

My midwife did a good job, I think, given that I didn’t make her job very easy by “surprising” her the way I did. I would never attempt a UC again because of the type of labor I had. I would want a midwife there to help me through it, if I had such a tough labor again, since my dh is really not equipped to be a good labor partner, though he tried. And I would not want to be at home with a baby coming out looking the way Alex did. Maybe next time I will do it at a birth center, I don’t know. I have a lot of conflicted feelings about this right now. My husband was angry initially, and blamed me a little too. But he apologized, and he doesn’t fault me for having tried.

I totally cannot relate at this point to women who describe puttering around the house, etc. through labor, or kissing their husband, or having a pleasurable birth since mine was so intense and hard. It's just unimaginable. Sorry this was so long. I would like to hear any comments, since it may help me to process this. I’d particularly like to hear from pamamidwife and Linda (blueviolet), but all are welcome. Thanks for listening…